User blog:Plotline/Mane Six Body Swap
For your consideration, a long lost fanfic I was particularlyproud of may be resurrected for your enjoyment! So, I had written a fanfiction a while back, before Season 3 premiered, in which the Mane 6 more or less swapped bodies. The attempt was for the manes to appreciate one another for who they are while also not taking for granted what they had themselves in life. Here’s a brief rundown. During some fun at SAA, Applejack beats Rainbow Dash for the 7th straight time in a hoof wrestling contest. While Rainbow, of course, is a bit sore about losing, she’s complimentary of just what an athlete Applejack can actually be when she’s putting her mind to it. Applejack, a bit flummoxed by the sudden praise, tries to shift it to Rarity, saying that she’s the one getting attention from everypony. Rarity talks about how exhausting it really is and wishes she could have Fluttershy’s ability to just escape from reality and spend time to herself, to which Fluttershy responds that she would still like Pinkie Pie’s way with ponies and not be so afraid of big crowds. Pinkie Pie says that it’s not enough for her and wishes she had Twilight’s magical power, beginning to imagine how she’d use Twilight’s magic to make her parties better. Twilight, however, dreams of being able to soar like Rainbow Dash and take some flights with Celestia, Luna, or Cadance. Through events I’m not going to /totally/ spoil, let’s just say McGuffins happen, the Mane Six wake up the next day body swapped. Applejack wakes up in Rarity’s body, Rarity wakes up in Fluttershy’s body, Fluttershy wakes up in Pinkie Pie’s body, Pinkie Pie wakes up in Twilight’s body, Twilight wakes up in Rainbow Dash’s body, and Rainbow Dash wakes up in Applejack’s body. Exactly where they’d left off last night. Rainbow as AJ woke up at SAA, Pinkie as Twilight woke up in the Treebrary, Twilight wakes up almost falling out of a cloud, etc. etc. After realizing what happened, the six meet up and agree that they need to look into answers, but it’s a busy week for a lot of them. Applejack is in the middle of a major harvest, Pinkie Pie has parties to throw, Twilight has a presentation for Princess Celestia, Rarity is slated to model in Canterlot, etc. Realizing the tough spot they’re all in, they agree to play along to the rest of Ponyville and Canterlot that they are in fact the ponies who they look like to their friends and family and somehow try to find a way to cope with their new responsibilities and abilities. Twilight Sparkle is thrilled to have the ability to fly, and with Rainbow Dash’s body and wings no less. While it takes some getting used to to get airborne, she eventually succeeds… and precedes to crash all over Ponyville, causing embarrassing moments that lead to Scootaloo beginning to grow disillusioned with Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, as Applejack, was at first thrilled to have the athletic and rodeo-worthy body of AJ, but soon misses the sky, grows weary of the constant chores, and even becomes a bit bitter at just how good AJ really is and really could be, being a physically superior Earth Pony. Applejack at first enjoys the attention she’s getting in Rarity’s body, initially considering what she does to be a cakewalk, but soon she becomes smothered by would-be suitors, fashion moguls, and the need to consistently reinvent her image. She even complains about not being able to use Rarity’s gem finding ability to toss some gemstones the Apple Family’s way due to a lack of time with Rarity’s busy week. She also grows to miss the Apples, despite an unsuspecting Sweetie Belle’s best efforts at sisterly bonding. Rarity at first enjoys the ecological boons of Fluttershy’s lifestyle, but some particularly rough critters (namely Angel), the night time noises of other critters interrupting her sleep, and the “natural stench” of so many different animals begins to drive Rarity mad with unrest. Fluttershy experiences the least pleasure in being in Pinkie Pie’s body, having not been able to connect with animals as she would as herself. She even finds that she can’t quite muster the same charismatic energy that Pinkie has, even failing when trying to use the party cannon or attempting some of her unique mannerisms. And finally, Pinkie Pie in Twilight Sparkle’s body is like giving a child the keys to the amusement park. After some brief experimentations, she figures out how to tap into Twilight’s magical powers and begins to use them to envoke parties and surprises like never before, learning about all kinds of crazy magic. Unlike the others, Pinkie doesn’t have much reservation about who she was before and just wants to keep pushing the envelope as Twilight Sparkle, much to Spike’s chagrin, which inevitably leads to the ultimate conclusion of this episode. While the idea of changed destinies was teased in Magical Mystery Cure, this is something very different, I feel. Rather, the ponies’ personas and personalities being imposed into different bodies that have all new abilities in compared to the ones they had before. A lesson about learning more than you’d ever realized about your friends and appreciating what you have is something I always thought would make for a good episode of MLP:FiM. Let me know what you think and if you’d like to see my complete “episode” published online! Category:Blog posts